SINGAPORE - The floor is packed with diners at the Bussorah Street outlet of Hai Ge Ji, the halal Haninanese chicken rice restaurant founded by local celebrity couple Sheikh Haikel and Anna Belle Francis.

It is almost noon on Sept 5 and less than 24 hours after the rapper-foodpreneur went viral with a Sept 4 Instagram video disclosing his year-long battle with stage 4 colon cancer, which had spread to his liver.

Yet, here he is, greeting customers with his trademark warmth and geniality.

Beneath this front of positivity, however, is a gruelling emotional and physical reality.

In an interview with The Straits Times before Hai Ge Ji’s 11am opening time, Haikel says that he is wrestling with pain, fatigue and the haunting knowledge that he is living on borrowed time.

“I’m scared bro, I’m scared,” the 50-year-old admits, yet also adds that he refuses to hide at home.

His...